Page 326

“I have her,” Regan suddenly gruffed, and he shouldered Brody and Phoenix aside as he knelt over Penny’s crumpled frame. He glanced at Lena, a promise in his green eyes, and he gently scooped Penny into his hulking arms.

She flinched, and he rumbled, “Won’t hurt you. I promise. We just need to get you both somewhere safe.”

She gave and curled her arms around his massive neck, and he turned and strode with her through the forest.

Phoenix and Brody followed behind them.

While I gripped Elena’s face, my palms on her cheeks and my fingers digging into her hair. Tottering between relief and terror. “Are you hurt? Tell me if you’re hurt.”

She shook her head.

“No. I’m fine.”

She gripped onto my wrists.

Tears hazed her gorgeous eyes as she stared at me through grief and confusion. “She’s Patrick’s mom.”

I could see her guilt. The turmoil from that time. Even though I’d tried to hold it for her, that didn’t mean she hadn’t carried it. That it hadn’t haunted her.

I brushed the pads of my thumbs under her eyes. “I know. I know. I’m so fucking sorry. I had no idea who she was. I should have⁠—”

I couldn’t fucking believe she’d slipped between the cracks. That it’d been her.

Elena pressed her fingers to my lips. “No, you shouldn’t have. I told you not to interfere at the store. But more than that, she was supposed to come here. For closure. To find forgiveness. To find peace. To find her home.”

“Fuck, Elena.” How the hell could she believe in someone this way after what Penny had done?

But I knew how she could.

It was the same way as she looked at me.

With grace. With her goodness.

I scooped her off the ground and into my arms.

Cradled her against me.

Silas stared me down from ten feet away. His hands were curled into fists at his sides. Ferocity continued to radiate from him. I wasn’t sure if it was directed at what had happened with Penny or if it was directed at me.

I lifted my chin to him, refusing any shame in holding his sister this way.

His brow pinched, and he swallowed hard. “Never should have made you feel like you were to blame. Not then, not now.”

His words struck me like arrows that carried a healing balm.

He seemed to waver before he continued, “You’re right. I did know. I knew you’d do anything for her. Sacrifice everything for her. But what I never should have asked you to sacrifice was your love for her. I’m fucking sorry.”

My throat rolled around the jagged rocks that littered it. “I know.”

I knew it then. Knew it wasn’t my fault. Knew that loving her had never been wrong.

Silas gestured back in the direction of the store.

Giving me a sign that I was free. Absolved. Or maybe he was just letting me know that I’d never been guilty in the first place.

Everything I’d done had been done out of love for them.

I carried Elena back through the woods. My heart ravaged as I held her in my arms.